% Fashion and the beauty industry are the enemy of self-esteem
% Leah Rowe
% 2018-09-12

AKA The vanity industry.

There exists an entire industry out there designed to reduce our self-esteem
and make people believe they are less beautiful than they actually are.

They sell you weight loss programs, designer clothing, beauty products (makeup,
eyeliner, deodorent, etc).

They enforce the gender binary. It's easier to sell to a divided, simplified audience, rather than account for the variations in human sensibilities. This means non-binary people are excluded. The industry caters mainly to men and women.

It creates a divide between the two.

Why do men and women wear different clothes?

Do what I do:
Take 2 minutes in the shower, 10 seconds drying up, 30 seconds brushing your hair and less than a minute to get dressed. Don't wear makeup. Quickly tie up your hair into a plait so that it stays in place, then walk out your door and do your things for the day (or don't walk, if you can't walk. Or don't go out, if you want to stay indoors. Or stay outside, if you're homeless... I could go on)

Buy your clothing from thift stores, or pull them out of trash (learn to fix up old clothing).

Wear your hand me downs with pride.

Wear odd socks.

Forget to shave.

Vanity is not a sin, but it must be practised in moderation. Let it control you,
and you become a slave to it.

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<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8fUHOAw4jI>

